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Engineering Advantages, Challenges and Status of Sugarcane and other Sugar-Based Biomass Resources

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Plant Biotechnology for Sustainable Production of Energy and Co-products

Part of the book series: Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry ((AGRICULTURE,volume 66))

Abstract

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is a highly productive tropical stem crop that has been cultivated for its high sugar content for hundreds of years. In recent times, sugarcane has been the focus of several programs aiming at the production of fuel ethanol. Compared to starch-based sources such as corn, production of ethanol from sugarcane has obvious advantages due to the amount of photosynthate accumulated during the crop cycle and the low production costs of sugarcane. The rise of cellulosic ethanol technologies will allow the conversion of part of the sugarcane lignocellulosic materials into ethanol, thus maximizing the utilization of this crop as a biofuel feedstock. Despite the rapid progress made in recent years, breeding and biotechnology have been hampered by the complex nature of sugarcane genetics and physiology. Biotechnology and marker-assisted breeding have great potential for generating cultivars and optimizing the utilization of sugarcane sucrose and lignocellulosic materials as a source of fuel ethanol. Other sugar-producing plants, such as sweet sorghum and sugar beet, are also potential biofuel sources, especially in water-limited and temperate areas, respectively, where sugarcane cultivation is not economically viable.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank several colleagues at Monsanto who made helpful contributions to the content or editing of this review.

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  1. Isabel R. Gerhardt

    Present address: Embrapa Florestas, Estrada da Ribeira, km 111, 319, 83411-000, Colombo, PR, Brazil

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  1. Canavialis e Alellyx, Via Anhanguera, km 104, Condomínio TechnoPark, Rua James Clark Maxwell, 320/360, 13069-380, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Ricardo A. Dante & Plinio T. Cristofoletti

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    Peter N. Mascia

  2. ZMAW, Institute for Geography, University of Hamburg, Bundesstr. 53, Hamburg, 20146, Germany

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  3. Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois, W. Gregory, ERML 1201, Urbana, 61801, Illinois, USA

    Jack M. Widholm

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Dante, R.A., Cristofoletti, P.T., Gerhardt, I.R. (2010). Engineering Advantages, Challenges and Status of Sugarcane and other Sugar-Based Biomass Resources. In: Mascia, P., Scheffran, J., Widholm, J. (eds) Plant Biotechnology for Sustainable Production of Energy and Co-products. Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, vol 66. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13440-1_4

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